The field of decalcomanias or "decals" has developed over the years in a variety of different areas. However, on an overall basis, most of these decals share a number of significant similarities, while specific decalcomanias will employ quite different compositions depending upon their ultimate intended use.
As for the decalcomanias themselves, they generally comprise a multi-layered structure which includes a backing sheet, a design or pigment layer, and a protective layer applied thereover. The colors in the design layer can be formed from various inorganic pigments or oxides, and can be applied by a number of methods. Generally, a layer is required to facilitate release of the backing layer from the design layer, and is thus interposed therebetween for that very purpose. In addition, the protective layer which is applied over the design layer can comprise low melting point glass or glass fluxes, which act as protective barriers over the surface of the design layer.
In the case where these decalcomanias have constituted a paper backing, a pigment layer, and an organic or lacquer layer, removal of the decalcomania from the paper backing may be carried out by merely moistening the decalcomania and sliding the decorated portion off the paper backing. Where water is used for this purpose, the decalcomania is called a water-mount or slide-off decalcomania. Where the decalcomanias are mounted with a solvent, they are called a solvent-mount type. One such decalcomania is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,049, in which a bonding agent is employed for the purpose of facilitating the glazing and fixing of ceramic wares. Thus, a combination of a fast-acting solvent, such as a lower alcohol, and a moderating agent, such as various polyhydroxy compounds, including various glycols, are employed for these purposes. While in the case of the '049 patent the disclosure strictly relates to application of the decalcomania to ceramic ware, it is not believed that decalcomanias of the water-mount or slide-off type have been previously applied to porous surfaces, such as textile surfaces and the like. However, it is believed that decalcomanias of the solvent-mount type have been previously applied to textile supports such as canvas, as well as to other surfaces, such as wood and the like. In fact, the assignee of the present application, Commercial Decal, Inc., made and sold commercially such solvent-mount-type decals, which were primarily applied to biscuit ware, which was then glazed and fired. In particular, with these decals, application generally took place by stripping a backing layer from the tissue surface thereof, and then dipping the decal into a solution of pine oil, butyl carbitol, carbitol solvent and water. The tissue material could then be placed face down onto the ware, dried, and then moistened in order to remove the tissue itself.
In general the transfer of designs to textiles has been accomplished by the use of sublimation dyes which are transferred by the application of heat from a paper backing directly on to the textile supports in question. In the past, however, where it has been attempted to apply solvent-mount decals to textile supports such as canvas, these attempts have included printing the decals onto dextrine-coated paper and then immersing the decal in an aqueous solution containing from 5 to 15% butyl Cellosolve.RTM. (trademark of Union Carbide corporation) in which the solvent softens the design layer, causing the same to become tacky so that it will adhere to the textile support. The decalcomania is then placed face down on the canvas and squeegeed to remove excess solvent and water, and the backing is then peeled away as the design is fixed to the canvas. Use of solvent-mounted decals, however, results in immediate adherence to the textile.
A rather significant proportion of the decalcomania industry is directed to ceramic decalcomanias, which are intended for application to ceramic wares, and which thus inherently include firing steps. These, in turn, create specific requirements for the decalcomanias themselves so that they will not be destroyed and/or interfere with the decoration process when high temperatures are applied thereto. In addition, decals have also been known and used for years which are not intended to be fired, as is the case with glass and ceramic applications. In these cases, so-called cold decals have been used, be they of the pressure-sensitive, water-slide-off, or solvent-mount type. All of these decals thus exclusively employ organic colors.
While most of the prior applications of decalcomanias have thus been in connection with ceramic wares, in that context various techniques have been developed for printing and applying these decals. Apart from the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,049, reference is also made to British Patent No. 1,094,104 to Johnson, Mathey & Co., which discloses ceramic pigment transfers including inks with a printing medium or varnish incorporating a ceramic pigment applied to a backing sheet over which a covering layer of an adhesion promoting flux of glass forming constituents is applied. This patent disclosure states that the covering layer can be fused to form a protective layer after firing, and that the flux itself can include constituents which are adapted to form a lead borosilicate glass, such as lead oxide, boric acid, and silica. In addition, in accordance with the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,898,362, which is assigned to the assignee of the present application, improved wet printing techniques are disclosed in which overglaze ceramic decalcomanias are provided with a wet ink formulation free of glass and including oxide coloring agents in a liquid printing medium such as drying oil, varnish or resin. These decalcomanias are thus produced by wet printing the wet ink formulation onto a decalcomania backing sheet to form a wet design layer free of glass, and by then separately depositing onto the wet design layer a protective coating in the form of a prefused glass flux, which may also be initially deposited on the backing sheet and the wet design layer printed thereover. The purpose of this is that when the decalcomania is then positioned on a ware and fired, the protective coating fuses and tightly binds the design layer to the ware. Again, most of these types of decalcomanias include various elements such as glass fluxes and the like, which are specifically adapted for use with ceramic wares which are to be subjected to firing processes.
Decalcomanias have not been successfully applied to porous substrates such as textile media, including canvas substrates. Thus, much of the prior art, which is directed to ceramic decalcomanias and the like, does not even apply to such processes.